🥷 Ninja Dojo
Welcome to the Ninja Dojo! Channel your inner agile warrior—stealthily reflect on our project, unveiling hidden strengths and silent setbacks. Let's master new skills, cut old habits, and sharpen what already works to perfection.
Template Columns
🗡️ Skills to Master
Share new practices or tools we should stealthily adopt to become even more agile ninjas.
Base column: Start🥷 Unmask Weaknesses
Reveal habits or processes that hinder our ninja flow and should be left in the shadows.
Base column: Stop🎴 Signature Moves
Highlight the techniques and routines that make our team legendary, so we keep honing them.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
The Ninja Dojo retrospective invites your team to confidentially reflect on emerging skills, hidden weaknesses, and established strengths—fostering a culture of continuous improvement and mastery.
When to use this template
This format is perfect when your team wants to creatively identify areas for growth, address blockers quietly affecting productivity, and highlight team practices that drive consistent success.
How to facilitate
Begin by welcoming the team to the Ninja Dojo and explaining the purpose and fun theme to create a relaxed, open atmosphere.
Review the three columns: Skills to Master, Unmask Weaknesses, and Signature Moves, clarifying each one's intent.
Invite everyone to add their thoughts anonymously to each column, encouraging both honest self-reflection and recognition of team efforts.
Allow time for everyone to review and read the comments in each column, noticing recurring themes or surprising insights.
Facilitate a group discussion on each column—starting with Skills to Master, then moving to Unmask Weaknesses, and finishing with Signature Moves.
Collaboratively decide on a few key actions or experiments based on the discussion, capturing them to follow up in the next sprint.
Close by celebrating one standout Signature Move and acknowledging the courage to unmask weaknesses.
Pro Tips
Use playful language and visuals to reinforce the dojo theme and make participants comfortable with candid feedback.
Encourage quieter team members to submit thoughts privately beforehand if they are hesitant to share in the moment.
Balance conversation so each column gets attention—especially 'Unmask Weaknesses', which may take encouragement to address honestly.
Celebrate accomplishments from 'Signature Moves' to foster a sense of pride and cohesion without losing focus on growth.
FAQ
What can I do if my team hesitates to share weaknesses?
Set a safe tone up front, remind the team that ninjas improve by learning from mistakes, and provide anonymous options for submitting feedback.
How do we make sure new skills suggested actually get tried?
Select one or two top skills as experiments and assign clear owners to champion them in the next sprint.
Can this template work for distributed or hybrid teams?
Yes—online boards, anonymous input, and dedicated discussion time help ensure everyone has a voice regardless of location.
At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective